Draft regulator



Nov. 25, 1952 c. s. GREER, JR

DRAFT REGULATOR Filed Sept. 16, 1948 Qwuwwtom A TTORNEYS illlll llllllllllllllll E m I m I \QN HM m/ I an em 8 ow l 9 Patented Nov. 25, 1952 DRAFT REGULATOR Carl S. Greer, Jr., Albion, Mich., assignor to Lonergan Manufacturing Company,

Albion,

Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application September 16, 1948, Serial N 0. 49,609

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to draft regulators for use in conjunction with natural draft stoves and like heating apparatus in order automatically to control the draft in the chimney, stack, or pipe for the burnt products of combustion and particularly to such regulators as are employed on natural draft oil burning warm air stoves, space heaters or the like of the vaporizing type, in which the combustion of the fuel is accomplished in a burner receptacle having perforations for admitting the combustion supporting air for the liquid fuel vaporized in the burner receptacle by the heat of the previously consumed fuel.

In connection with such oil burning stoves or heaters it is essential, for the satisfactory and efficient operation thereof, that the flame should be maintained stabilized under all operating conditions. It is nevertheless Well known that the maintaining of stable flame is influenced by the varying pressures which occur in the waste products stack, chimney or pipe with which the stove or heater is connected and many proposals have been made to provide these stoves or heaters with an automatic draft regulator which gives automatic compensation for these varying pressure conditions. However, these draft regulators as hitherto employed, by their inherent construction and function tend to so disturb the gas flow from the stove or heater as to efiect the flame and prevent a constantly stabilized action thereof.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved construction of automatic draft regulator which can be used on a heater or stove of the above described kind to control the draft automatically, whether the stove is operating on high or low flame, on a mild or a windy day, and this while ensuring that there shall be no deleterious interference with the flow of the heating gases from the burner receptacle so that the burner flame remains stabilized.

The invention also has for its object to provide an improved construction of draft regulator, suitable for use on heaters or stoves in which the draft control takes place independently upon opposite sides of the regulator casing and in such manner as gives rise to a symmetrical gas flow through the regulator without undue disturbance of the main gas flow therethrough. 1

These and further objects and advantages of the invention will be clear from a consideration of the following description of one practical embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. I is a plan view of the draft regulator, with the valve plates in the closed position,

Fig. II is a side elevational view of Fig. I, and- Fig. III is an end view looking on the right of Fig. I.

Referring to the drawings [0 indicates generally a hollow shell or casing, which may be formed by two similar sheet metal pressings or stampings l2, I2 welded together along the seams l4 and shaped to provide a cylindrical opening It at one end and an elliptical opening [8 at the opposite end. Also the shell or casing sections are formed, as shown, to impart to the hollow shell or casing interior an outwardly bulged formation whereby the center portion of said interior is wider in the horizontal direction. as seen in Fig. I, than in the vertical direction, as seen in Fig. II, and whereas the major axis of the elliptical opening I8 is longer than the diameter of the circular opening l6 and extends horizontally, having regard to the operative location of the draft regulator (which is as shown in the drawings) its minor axis is smaller than such diameter and extends vertically. This relative positioning of said openings I6 and I8 and the outward bulging of the center of the casing interior in the horizontal direction gives rise to the existence of the inclined shell or casing wall portions 20 on opposite sides of the shell or casing and to the inclined wall portions 22 on the top and bottom of the casing, as seen in Figs. II and III, it being appreciated that the entire shaping of the shell or casing interior i symmetrical, by each shell or casing part l2, l2 being identical.

The shell or casing is adapted to be connected to a stove or heater at the end thereof contain-,

ing the elliptical opening l8, whereas its opposite and circular end opening [6 serves for the attachment of a pipe by which connection may bev made with a. smoke stack or chimney. To provide for these connections the wall of the elliptical opening is shown fitted with opposite angle pieces 24 having openings 26 for the accommodation of securing screws, bolts or the like, while the wall of the circular opening is conveniently fluted, as indicated at 28, to provide for the maintaining of a friction grip with the attached stove pipe or like fitting (not shown).

The opposite vertically extending side wall portions of the widened center portion of the regulator shell or casing are formed with identical openings 30, which are conveniently of substantially rectangular shape as shown in Fig. II and are disposed immediately opposite one another.

Pivotally associated with each said opening 30 there is a valve plate 32 of approximately the same shape and size as the opening. These valve plates are identical but each is pivotally mounted and operates entirely independently of the other.

The pivotal mounting of the valve plates is conveniently effected by the transversely extending pins 34 mounted at one end in raised socket portions 36 formed upon the front surface of each valve plate, near the opposite vertical edges thereof, and mounted at their opposite and outer ends in similar raised sockets 38 near the vertical side edges which define the valve opening 30. These pivot pins define minor and major plate portions of which the minor portion is at the top, as seen in Fig. II, and has mounted upon its inside surface a mass 40 by which each valve plate is counterbalanced to assume a normal vertical position while permitting the plate to swing freely about its pivot pins to enable it to partake automatically of its required draft regulating action.

Washer members 42 loosely mounted upon each pivot pin between the opposed vertical edges of each valve plate and its associated opening 38, serve tomaintain these edges in slightly spaced relationship to thereby prevent fouling of the plate edges with the opening edges.

The degree or opening of the valve plates is capable of being controlled and set by the provision of the stop fingers 44 secured, as indicated at 46, to the outside of the regulator shell or casing adjacent one vertical edge of each valve plate opening 30 and providing a free end finger portion which extends into the path of the top and minor portion of the associated valve plate, whereby to arrest further outward swinging movement of the latter, in the pivotal operative movement of the valve plate, by this finger forming a stop to arrest such movement. The free end portions of these fingers, which are provided one for each valve plate, are capable of being deformed by hand to permit the finger ends to be set in space to provide for an earlier or later arresting of the outward swinging movement of the top valve plate portions and thereby control the effective size of the regulator openings 38 opened-up, by the swinging movement of the valve plates, to the flow of the outer atmosphere into the regulator.

Mounted within the regulator shell or casing on the opposite vertical side walls thereof and adjacent the vertical side of each regulator valve plate nearest the elliptical end. opening I8, there is a baffle plate 48 inclined in the direction of the gas fiow through said opening and preferably terminating with its vertical edge 50 slightly clear of the adjacent vertical edge of its corresponding regulator side opening 30 and in substantially tangential relationship to the circular outlet opening 18.

Each said baiiie plat is conveniently of truncated fan shape, as seen in Figs. II and III, and has its inclined upper and lower edges spaced from the interior surface of the regulator shell. Each baille plate has an angularly bent base portion 54 by which the baffle plate is secured to the inside Wall of the regulator shell or casing, as indicated at 56.

In operation, the regulator valve plates will respond automatically and independently of each other to varying pressure conditions within the smoke stack, chimney or pipe with which the regulator is associated in order to provide a controlled draft action by allowing more or less air to enter through the opposed openings 30. But the symmetrical arrangement of the plate valves 32, combined with their independence of operation and the presence of the baiiie plates 48 (which, by their inclination, tend to direct the incoming atmosphere to follow the direction of the main gas flow and, by their location, shield the openings 30 from the inlet end iii of the shell or casing III) will prevent the infiowing air from having any deleterious effect upon th main gas fiow through the center of the regulator and, when installed upon a heater stove or space heater using a vaporizing burner chamber as above described, will enable the flame to be maintained stabilized for the varying draft conditions.

The stop fingers 44 can be set at the factory, or by the persons installing the regulator, to provide a constant draft regulating action, even at low draft, and which requires no further adjustment or manual control since the regulator, when once installed for operation, will be found to function automatically under all conditions of operation.

Having thus described and illustrated one form of the invention, it is to be understood that the same is not to be regarded as limited to the specific details of such form but is capable of being variously modified to suit particular manufacturing requirements and operating conditions without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A draft regulator in the form of a conduit for conducting products of combustion comprising a hollow sheet metal casing in the form of a pair of similar stampings joined along longitudinal edges and having opposite end portions for connection into a conduit system for products of combustion and defining gas inlet and discharge openings, a central portion of said casing being symmetrically widened on opposite sides to provide outwardly bulged portions of the casing interior to define vertical side walls extending beyond the confines of said gas inlet and outlet openings, openings defined in opposite portions of said vertical walls, freely pivoted valves mounted on said vertical side walls and regulating said openings in response to relative interior and exterior pressures, baiiies connected to the opposite side of the interior walls of said casing between said last openings and said inlet opening to bafiie and defiect the gas from said bulged portions and the incoming fiow of atmosphere past said valves.

CARL S. GREER, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 613,835 Coulston Nov. 8, 1898 1,272,064 Lezius July 9, 1918 1,911,941 Bock May 30, 1933 2,259,130 Field, JR Oct. 14, 1941 2,376,211 Walker May 15, 1945 2,377,895 McIntosh June 12, 1945 2,379,916 McIntosh July 10, 1945 

